1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for generating flow diagrams. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for a multi-policy framework for resolving inter-page nodes and generating navigational aids for paginated flow diagrams.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a user creates a process flow diagram, the user may print the flow diagram to share it or present to others. The flow diagram may be so large that the entire document cannot be printed out on a single page. In such cases, the user may print a multi-page process flow diagram in a paginated format. However, flow diagrams frequently branch out both horizontally and vertically. In other words, when a flow diagram is printed out in a paginated format, the flow diagram may span several pieces of paper in both horizontal and vertical directions.
The current method for printing multi-page process flow diagrams is simply to divide a flow diagram into a grid sequence of printed pages, each of which may contain the current page number and/or the total number of pages of the document in a header or footer. This approach is convenient for printing documents that grow in one dimension while having a fixed size in the opposite dimension. However, when printing two-dimensional flow diagrams that branch out across multiple pages, the printed output may be difficult to follow, read, and understand.